Report: Macedonia fares best on press freedom in Balkans

21/10/2009

Reporters Without Borders ranked countries of the world in terms of press freedoms, but not all the news was good.

(Reporters Without Borders, AP, Euobserver, Novinite, Sofia Echo, Dnevnik.bg, Mediapool, Croatian Times, MIA, Makfax - 20/10/09)

"Press freedom must be defended everywhere in the world with the same energy and the same insistence," RSF Secretary-General Jean-François Julliard said.

The state of press freedom has deteriorated in all but two Balkan countries over the past 12 months, according to a new Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) survey released Tuesday (October 20th).

Macedonia jumped up eight places in the international media watchdog's eighth annual World Press Freedom Index to emerge as the region's leader. It was ranked 34th among the 175 world nations covered in this year's survey, up from 42nd in the one issued last year.

The only other Balkan nation to have improved its ranking over the past year was Serbia, which climbed two places to stand 62nd in the world.

The survey reflects press freedom violations that took place between September 1st 2008 and August 31st 2009. Each country is given a ranking and a score, ranging from 0 (best) to 115.50 (worst).

Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden lead the global list this year, with a score of 0 each, while Eritrea was at the bottom of the table with a score of 115.50.

"Press freedom must be defended everywhere in the world with the same energy and the same insistence," RSF Secretary-General Jean-Francois Julliard said Tuesday at the launch of the group's new index.

Within the broader Southeast European (SEE) region, EU candidate Macedonia came second after Cyprus, which moved up six slots to the 25th in the 2009 index.

All other SEE nations, including EU members Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, slipped in their positions.

Ranked 35th three years ago, Bulgaria has been falling steadily since it joined the Union in 2007. It now stands 68th in the world, down from 59th last year, and is the EU country with the lowest press freedom ranking in the 2009 index.

Greece (35th) and Romania (50th) have dropped four and three positions, respectively.

The state of press freedom has deteriorated in other EU nations, as well. The number of European nations among the top 20 in the world has shrunk from 18 last year to 15 today.

"It is disturbing to see European democracies such as France, Italy and Slovakia fall steadily in the rankings year after year," Julliard said.

The decline of EU candidates Croatia and Turkey was even worse than that of the SEE countries that have already joined the 27-nation bloc. Croatia, where the owner and marketing director of the weekly Nacional were killed in a bomb attack about 12 months ago, fell 33 places to end up 78th on the world list today.

"In Croatia… certain aspects of Serbo-Croatian relations are a source of tension and are off-limits for the media," the RSF said. "Journalists who violate the taboo are often the targets of violence."

Turkey's fall from its 102nd position last year to its 122nd today "was due to a surge in cases of censorship, especially censorship of media that represent minorities (above all the Kurds), and efforts by members of government bodies, the armed forces and judicial system to maintain their control over coverage of matters of general interest," the Paris-based watchdog explained.

Of the other SEE countries, Montenegro's fall to the 77th place in the 2009 index, down from 53rd last year, indicated a significant decline in press freedom. Kosovo, placed 75th this year, dropped 17 positions in RSF's new global ranking, while Albania (88th) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (39th) slipped nine and three places, respectively.